"La Forqueray"

Antoine Forqueray 1671 - 1745

Forqueray was a virtuoso gamba player, a musician in the court of Louis XIV. This was in many ways the pinnacle of French music--certainly until the early 20th century. There was a tradition amongst musicians at the time in France to name pieces after one another. This piece is called "La Couperin" after Francois Couperin, le grande:

What a great performance! We sometimes forget that the music of earlier times can be just as filled with passion as that of our own. Of course, Couperin returned the compliment with this piece called "La Forqueray":

Jean-Philippe Rameau also got into the act. Here is his "La Forqueray":

All this came to an end with the last of the clavicenistes, Jacques Duphly, who also wrote a "La Forqueray":